Plenty of positives for Indians in victory

The skies above Progressive Field on Aug. 30 echoed with the roars of the F/A18 Hornets attached to the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels.

Those sleek jet fighters and their pilots were getting in some practice flights to prepare for starring roles in the Cleveland National Air Show this Labor Day weekend at Burke Lakefront Airport.

Beneath sometimes blue, sometimes cloudy skies, the Indians were wrapping up a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins with a 5-3 victory.

As the Indians are mortal locks to win a third straight American League Central Division title and secure a playoff berth for the fifth time in the last seven seasons, the game was of only passing consequence.

With the win, the Indians upped their record to 76-57, increased their lead over the second-place Twins to 14 games and reduced to 16 their magic number for wrapping up the division title.

What did matter were the individual elements that aligned for the Indians on a comfortable afternoon that brought 20,244 paying customers into the downtown ballpark.

Solid starting pitching is the cornerstone of this Cleveland team aiming to turn into a distant memory last season’s collapse against the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series.

On the heels of a deflating, 4-3 loss to the Twins on Aug. 29, Mike Clevinger took the mound for the Indians and delivered. The 27-year-old righthander surrendered two runs on four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He issued only one walk and notched nine strikeouts. Oh his 114 pitchers, 70 were strikes.

Clevinger this season has become a vital cog in the rotation. In 26 of his 27 starts, he has worked at least five innings. With a 10-7 record and 3.17 ERA, he has proved he deserves a spot in the postseason rotation with Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer.

Indians manager Terry Francona liked what he saw in Clevinger’s latest quality outing.

“I thought he battled like crazy,” Francona said. “His breaking ball was really good. He threw that for more strikes than his fastball.”

Clevinger said it means the world to him to earn plaudits from the veteran manager who guided the Boston Red Sox to two World Series titles and had the Indians on the verge in 2016 until they lost Game 7 to the Chicago Cubs in 10 innings.

“That’s a hard man to get his trust. He’s been around a while and knows the game,” Clevinger said. “You really have to earn it here, especially with this staff. It’s clear why you have to earn it.”

The once reliable Cleveland bullpen has been shaky through much of the second half of the season. Especially distressing have been the travails of closer Cody Allen.

Despite his 25 saves this season and a franchise-record 147 saves, it’s been a brutal August for the 29-year-old right-hander. He’d blown three of six save opportunities, including one in the middle game of this series.

Nevertheless, Francona said he was going to Allen when he went to get the ball from reliever Oliver Perez in the top of the eighth inning with one out, the bases empty and the Indians protecting a 5-2 lead.

The crowd grew uneasy when Allen walked the first batter he faced, Logan Forsythe. But he rallied to retire Robbie Grossman on a routine fly to right field, then participated in the rundown that retired Forsythe on a baserunning blunder.

“It was a really good step in the right direction,” Francona said of Allen’s outing.

For the Indians to go into the playoffs in a positive frame of mind about their bullpen, it’s important that Allen pitches his way out of this funk in what remains of the regular season. That’s especially true with Andrew Miller on the disabled list for the third time this season, now with a sore left shoulder. The Indians’ new closer, Brad Hand, gave up a solo home run to Miguel Sano leading off the tip of the ninth inning. A one-out walk brought the potential tying run to the plate, but Hand fanned Jake Cavs and Tyler Austin to earn his sixth save with the Indians and 30th overall this season.

Hand came to the Indians along with right-handed reliever Adam Cimber on July 19 from San Diego in exchange for highly-regarded catching prospect Francisco Mejia.

The Indians managed only six hits against four Minnesota pitchers. Second baseman Jason Kipnis got the biggest of them, a threerun home run in the bottom of the sixth inning that snapped a 2-2 tie and put the Indians on the path to victory.

Kipnis has struggled at the plate all season, but in the past four games is 9-for15 with five extra-base hits..

“He’s been wanting to get the feeling of using his hands,” Francona said of Kipnis’ recent surge. “He just looks more like himself.”

A continuation of this good form by Kipnis in the lower third of the batting order would be another positive for the Indians in the run-up to the playoffs.